The government is “attempting to take away the right to a stable, dignified life with future prospects,” Tiago Oliveira stated to journalists after a visit to the Lusa agency, invited by the company’s Workers’ Committee on the eve of the general strike against the government’s draft labor legislation review, called by the CGTP and the UGT.
The secretary-general of CGTP urged workers to join the general strike to “improve their living conditions” and “to signal rejection of this labor package.”
Tiago Oliveira expressed confidence that the general strike will see “significant participation” in light of the “ongoing attack” and assured that minimum services will be met.
“The public will certainly have access to essential sectors during a general strike, particularly healthcare, and everything will be ensured to avoid any failure,” reiterated Tiago Oliveira when asked about the prime minister’s comments, who hoped the country would function “as normally as possible.”
Regarding Luís Montenegro’s “concern,” who wished for “everyone who wants to work to be able to do so,” Tiago Oliveira criticized the prime minister’s “incomprehensible” statements and urged the government to “withdraw the proposal to facilitate dismissals.”
“The government needs to understand one thing. The general strike needs to have an impact. The objective of the general strike is to communicate to the government clearly, forcefully, and undoubtedly that it should withdraw the labor package,” he stated.
Addressing the prime minister’s argument for economic stability, the CGTP secretary-general recalled labor law changes during the ‘troika’ period, pointing out that “this situation of vulnerability was exploited to strip workers of their rights.”
“After a decade, we are experiencing full employment, the country is moving forward, and the economy is growing. What is the prescription? Increased precariousness, dismissals, attacks on union freedoms, assaults on collective bargaining, deregulation of working hours,” he remarked.
According to the union leader, “there are two completely different scales, but the prescription is exactly the same. Strip worker rights, attack the labor world, and weaken working relationships.”
The CGTP leader further stated that what follows after the general strike “is in the hands of the government,” but emphasized that if the policy continues to “strip rights and increase daily hardships, the path is through struggle.”
At the end of the visit, the CGTP secretary-general was received by Lusa’s management, noting afterward that the meeting was “very positive.”
Tiago Oliveira also highlighted the “fundamental role of the state” in the future of media and left “with the certainty that Lusa has its workers as the strongest defenders of what is public service,” as well as the agency’s “role in our society.”
The CGTP secretary-general, Tiago Oliveira, will be at the waste collection in Amadora at 21:45, at the Autoeuropa park at 23:15, and at the Lisbon Metro at 00:30.
The UGT secretary-general, Mário Mourão, will be at the Lisbon City Council’s waste collection center at 20:30 and at Autoeuropa in Palmela at 23:15.
